Vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance says he was prepared for the deluge of negative media coverage that came after former President Trump tapped him to be his running mate.
In an interview with NBC News, Vance said he does not believe Trump is disappointed about picking him.
"No," Vance said. "I mean, I knew that when I came out of the gate there was going to be a couple of days of positive media coverage and then immediately they would go and attack me over everything that I had ever said in my life."
"The price of entry of being on the national ticket and giving me an opportunity to govern is you have to ... take the shots, and so I sort of expected it," he added. "I think that, frankly, the people who’ve made a lot of money and acquired a lot of power screwing the country up are not going to go easily."
Vance went on to say he would want to target border policy once in office, essentially undoing the work of Vice President Kamala Harris. President Biden tapped Harris to address the flow of illegal immigration in 2021.
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"It all starts with strength — strong borders, strong families, a strong economy and a strong president," Vance said in a recent rally speech. "Of all of Kamala Harris’ faults, the worst of all is that she left America weak and vulnerable. The entire world now knows that she helped cover up Joe Biden’s declining mental capacity for years."
"Our adversaries," Vance added, "are licking their chops and the world is in disarray because of weak American leadership."
Vance also defended comments that Democrats have used to attack him. A highlight was an old interview in which he criticized Harris and various Democratic women as "childless cat ladies." He clarified the comment to NBC but did not back down or apologize.
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"What I was criticizing and continue to criticize is a particular neurosis in American leadership that I think leads people to say crazy things, like you shouldn’t have children because climate change is a threat to the future," he told the outlet. "Climate change may very well be a problem, but it is not a problem that should motivate people to not have families. And I think that attitude is quite damaging. It’s quite destructive."
"I’ll keep on calling it out, even though I’m sure that Democrats will misrepresent what I say," he added. "I just think that the substance of what I said is actually quite defensible."
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., jumped to Vance's defense on the issue in recent campaign appearances. She and top Trump adviser Jason Miller have been traveling with Vance as he makes his way to rallies across the country.
"I’m here today because of the nasty attacks on JD Vance claiming that he’s anti-woman," Luna said at a rally in Nevada. "Can you believe that? This is, mind you, by the same party that can’t define what a woman is."
